Tony and his wife, Nicole, adopted two F1B Labradoodle Puppies from us in early 2010 from 2 different litters. I asked his input one day in helping another Puppy Buyer to make the decision about adopting one or two puppies at the same time. I could never have put it better myself....and asked Tony's permission to share their experiences. This is such valuable information for any family anticpating the arrival of their new puppy....or puppies. Those first days and weeks can be a challenge, but to perservere will bring you wonderful rewards that will last many, many years.
1) Obviously, it is a lot of work. And, the two dogs really play
off of each other. For example, if one is ready to lie down and rest and the other is energetic and wants to play - then,
they play. There is little down time.
2) We noticed a considerable change in Nola's behavior when we brought home
Dekker. She was always happy but she looked really happy when we brought home Dekker. They are best friends.
She loves being a "big sister' and would do anything for him. In fact, earlier this week at a dog park, a dog snapped at Dekker
and he gave off a little cry. She charged from about 25 yards away and jumped on the other dog. Seriously, these two stick
together in the park (and going for walks) and they always know where the other one is.
3) On the ride home after we picked
up Dekker, he cried the whole way home. I am not sure how he would be if he were alone. He looks up to Nola so much.
She is really great to him. He is a bit of a wimp :), so she always looks out for him. Because of her, he is so much more
outgoing. As you know, the first few weeks would have been an absolute disaster if she didn't sleep in his crate with him at
night.
4) Nicole and I (at least one of us) goes home everyday around lunch to let the dogs out. If we work
8 hours a day, they just would not be able to make it without going to the bathroom. It takes 15 minutes, we go home,
let them out, give them some treats, and put them back in the crate. They actually don't mind their crate. Sometimes,
they go in their and sleep with the door open.
5) The first month was a lot of work. And, we were tired and looked
forward to the weekends. I was waking up every 3 hours to let them out and use the bathroom. But, we would have needed
to do this if we only had one dog.
6) From a financial perspective, it obviously doubles the cost. They have lots
of toys and eat double the amount of food. The vet is expensive. For example, our puppies are on this "puppy booster"
program. It is $350 per dog. It includes puppy shots and other stuff (Nicole knows more of the details). We are
getting them fixed between the first and second week of May. I believe this is $300 per dog. So, in the first year, we
figured it was going to be a few thousand dollars (cost of dogs, puppy booster plan, dog food, spay/neuter, toys, leash, collar, treats,
training class, etc.).
7) They always don't go to the bathroom on the same schedule so you have to make
extra trips outside to accommodate for this. And, they hate being apart from one another so when you take one out we typically
take them both out. Seriously, they don't like it when they can't see the other.
8) So many people tell us we are
nuts for getting one dog. "You're crazy, you're going to move into a brand new house with new hardwood floors and get a dog"?
We would answer "No, we're going to move into a brand new house and get two dogs". Well, people tell us we're nuts...for the
very reason that...we are nuts. We live a crazy, very active life. We each work 40-50 hours a week, exercise 10 hours
a week, etc. Now, we do think our energy levels are higher than most people. And, there are times when we are absolutely
exhausted and the dogs are running around crazy. So, when this happens at night, and the dogs get over-tired, not as a punishment,
we put them in their crate for about 30 minutes and this calms them down. We are learning that when they get over-tired they
don't know they need to settle down. Instead, they just start running aimlessly around the house - barking, chewing, etc.
This 30 minutes in the crate calms them down. We open up the crate after about 30 minutes and they will come out of their crate
and lie down and go to sleep on the floor next to us.
9) Weird stuff happens too. For example, yesterday, Dekker
spit out a tooth (fang). And, I was petting him to make sure he was okay. Well, Nicole inspected his mouth and he had
all of his fangs. As it turns out, it was Nola's tooth...inside Dekker's mouth. I have no idea how it happened but it
happened.
10) I think we do a really good job at putting them on a routine. They have breakfast around 6:15
AM and dinner around 5:00 PM (with a good-size snack around lunchtime). They get treats throughout the day too. Even on
the weekends, we wake up early to keep the routine. So, when you're tired and want to sleep in then you have to force yourself
to wake up because if you don't then Monday morning will be more difficult to get back on the routine. We don't free feed food
or water. But, we make sure to give them the proper amounts of food and water. Dekker is an eater. He loves to eat
and will eat whatever Nola doesn't (sometimes by stealing it). :)
11) Sometimes we have to remind ourselves to be
patient because we have such high expectations. For example, Dekker went to the bathroom near the front door the other day and
I said "couldn't you have waited 20 more seconds"? Well, the answer is "No, he couldn't". They are still so young
and don't have the muscles to 'hold it'. We do our best to not sweat the small stuff. They have chewed $100 running
shoes, $100 ties, and brand new floor-board molding. So, it is a full-time job watching these guys. I think it is my fault
for not being on them to replace the shoe with a chew toy.
12) We plan on using Dogma, a doggy-day care a few blocks
from our house. It is about $35 per day per dog. However, Dogma won't take them until they have all of their shots (last
shot is scheduled for this Thursday). This is good to know because we initially thought the dogs would be going to Dogma by
now a couple days a week. But, we have had to alter some plans because they are still too young.
13) Obviously, we
don't have the land you have. In fact, our front yard is a sidewalk. So, house training becomes a little more complicated
because we can't just open the door and say "go ahead, do your business". Instead, each time they go outside we have to put
their leashes on and walk them a few blocks to a grassy park. Nicole's parents have a fenced-in backyard in Portland, OR and
it is so easy to just open the back yard and have the dogs run around. We alternate taking them outside at night. This
gets to be a lot but as they get older they are going outside less.
14) DVR is a wonderful thing. We constantly keep
an eye on our dogs and watching some TV shows became really complicated. If they needed to go outside during an important part
we would miss the show. So, we got a DVR recorder and watch TV using play, pause, fast forward, etc. Without the commercials,
you can watch a 60 minute tv show in about 35 minutes by fast forwarding past the commercials.
15) Some days, you
wake up and know they are going to be bad. I don't know what it is. Some days, they wake up and are angels throughout
the day. But, on the off days, they chew and bark, and chew and bark, and jump on furniture, and jump on countertops, and jump
on each other, and it gets crazy. We just get through these days and I try to take them for nice long walks to use lots of energy.
With that being said, our dogs are spoiled. They go for walks in the morning, afternoon, and evening. They get to run
around a dog park about 3-4 days per week (and sometimes twice on the weekend). So, they are used to going for lots of walks,
getting fresh air, and running and chasing tennis balls in the fenced-in dog park.
So, with all of the talk, and the good, bad,
and ugly. And, the loss of sleep, going outside during inconvenient times, altering business and personal schedules, would we make
the same decision...if we had to do it again...in a new york minute! :) Nevertheless, we look forward to down the road
when they are more independent, better trained, and can be trusted to go into a bathroom and not chew the entire roll of toilet paper
or go up to our bookshelf and not try to chew every book-binding they can get their paws on. They also eat grass and we are
trying to stop this. Their favorite is when they find a nice stick and can both have it in their mouths at the same time and
prance down the street. We are taking them to basic puppy classes (Nola starts in May). The trainer recommended they come
separately because they would distract each other. I can't tell you how much we love and care for these two wonderful animals.
I don't sneeze or have allergies around them. Our house does not have fur from shedding. We miss them when we're not around
them. The best part about it is they love us and need us just as much.
Tony